Across New England, armchair attorneys and quarterbacks alike are talking spoliation, discovery, and cell phones.
With National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell’s announcement of his decision on New England...more

Continuing the trend of expanding Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime rules outside the traditional realm of hourly manufacturing or retail workers, two recent events show that employers should be aware that exemption...more

Greenberg Glusker partner Ricardo Cestero was quoted in a story that ran in Law360 on July 21st about the National Football League’s proposed plan to move the San Diego Chargers to Los Angeles. Fans of the Chargers urged the...more

It’s official—professional cheerleaders are now recognized as employees under California law. On July 15, 2015, California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that requires all California-based professional sports teams to pay...more

As of Wednesday, July 08, 2015, the Washington Redskins have lost a long-fought batter to maintain its federal trademark registrations covering “REDSKINS.” Back in June of 2014, the United States Patent and Trademark Office...more

Last week, the U.S. District Court sitting in Alexandria, Virginia granted what would appear to be a sweeping victory to a group of five Native Americans who have renewed attempts to cancel the federal registrations of...more

Last week the NFL franchise that plays football near — but not in — our Nation’s Capital, was dealt another significant legal and public relations blow that would have any rational brand owner working overtime on its...more

Taking big hits is quite familiar to professional football teams. The hit laid down by a federal District Court on July 8, 2015, however, is one that Washington’s professional football franchise will remember for a long...more

When we published our Sue-per Bowl post, 2015 looked like it would be a good year for right of publicity claims brought by athletes. On January 6, 2015, the Ninth Circuit in Davis v. Electronic Arts held that the First...more

And this is true for any number of reasons! There’s the money, the supermodel wife, the buddy trips to the Kentucky Derby . . . . All pretty obvious. But there’s another reason, too. As an NFL quarterback, Brady works...more

To begin with, full disclosure: I am a lifelong New England Patriots fan (and season ticket holder). However, as an attorney I am trained to be objective. The aftermath of the “Deflategate” investigation should be of...more

NFL Scores Victory at Eighth Circuit, $42M Deal With Former Players Upheld -
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the $42 million settlement between the National Football League (NFL) and almost 25,000 former pro...more

In recent years, Missouri courts have seemed reluctant to enforce arbitration agreements entered into between employers and employees. But in a recent decision, the Missouri Supreme Court reversed that trend and compelled...more

About a quarter century ago, Steve Baird — at the time, a freshly minted graduate of the University of Iowa law school clerking for a federal judge in Washington, D.C. — was spending most of his free weekends working on an...more

On April 30, 2015, out-of-state professional football players earned victories against the City of Cleveland, Ohio. In a pair of cases decided by the Ohio Supreme Court, the court first struck the City’s method of allocating...more

Earlier this year, I posted about the possibility that the NFL may lose its tax exempt status. The NFL has decided instead to give up its tax-exempt status. It has been estimated that the tax-exempt status only saved the...more

The Institute of Sports Law and Ethics (ISLE) at Santa Clara University is currently active on three fronts: Deflategate, homophobia and safer soccer. Re Deflategate, Ron Katz, co-founder of ISLE, has been quoted extensively...more

If only the New England Patriots had an Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption program, “Deflategate” might never have entered America’s vocabulary. The long-running saga re-entered the media this past week with the release of the...more

In the first emergency podcast Jay Rosen and I review (what we know) of the Wells Report into Deflategate. We consider the issues from a FCPA compliance practitioner perspective and what lessons may be learned from the...more

In quick succession, the Southern California cities of Inglewood and Carson have used the initiative process to approve new NFL football stadiums in bids to lure teams to new homes, bypassing review under the California...more

Allegations of conspiracy to restrain trade and exclusive dealing may read like textbook antitrust claims, but if the allegations are made by a plaintiff who is not an “efficient enforcer” of the antitrust laws, the complaint...more

NUMBER OF THE WEEK: $23 Billion. The total revenue generated by the additional Medicare tax and the net investment income tax used to pay for the Affordable Care Act. The total exceeds the Joint Committee on Taxation’s 2010...more

A recent proposal by U.S. Congressman Jason Chaffetz, the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, would eliminate the tax-exemption under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(6) for professional sports...more

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